ABN Buyout Offer Moving Toward Closure

The consortium of European banks that won the bidding for Dutch bank ABN Amro announced Wednesday that their offer has been declared unconditional and the merger can move toward closure on October 17. The consortium also announced a new chairman for the board of ABN.

The consortium, made up of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Spanish bank Santander, and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis, will begin to take control of ABN as early as this week, according to European news reports. The final price for the takeover, considered the largest bank buyout in history, will be $99.9 billion.

ABN also said yesterday that Rijkman Groenink, Chairman of the Board, will step down from his position and be replaced by Mark Fisher, an executive in the RBS group. Groenink had voiced support previously for a rival bid for ABN by Barclays.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s CEO, Sir Fred Goodwin, is now deflecting criticism in the British press that his group paid too much for ABN. The consortium’s bid outpaced Barclays’ bid for the group by a full $14 billion.

"It’s a very attractive financial case for our shareholders. The best way to answer this [accusation he overpaid] is with the numbers, and we look forward to convincing everyone,” Goodwin told reporters yesterday.